S1E3 Pedro Tolipan: Driving innovation from within

Pedro Tolipan spent 20 years designing digital experiences at some of the best-known agencies and in-house teams in the world, from Razorfish to the BBC to a decade at McKinsey Digital Lab. Now he leads FutureLab, an internal innovation unit inside one of Azerbaijan largest financial holdings, tasked with something harder than any client brief: shifting an entire organization toward human-centered thinking, from the inside. He and Pauline get into what it actually takes to influence without ownership, why AI is 10% a technology problem and 90% a human one, and how you hire and grow a team of talented sponges when the discipline you need barely exists yet in the country. Pedro is the Design and Innovation Lead at FutureLab, where he builds research-driven products and capabilities for a group spanning banking, insurance, e-commerce, real estate and hospitality. Before Baku, he spent 10 years at McKinsey Digital Lab and held senior design roles at Vodafone, Barclays and the BBC. Sprints and marathons at the same time: the internal agency paradox Influence without ownership: getting a large organization to move Hiring sponges: why mindset beats skillset in an emerging market Building a research ops platform using agents before there was a playbook AI is 90% a human problem: what that means for leaders right now The future of work in Azerbaijan, and why the country is better positioned than it looks Keeping yourself on the track while getting everyone else off it Follow Pedro on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/pedro-tolipan/ Polar Bear exists because great teams deserve great people ops. We work with creative agencies and consulting boutiques to build the career paths, cultures, and systems that make talented people want to stay. Our main mission is to protect human connection at work, so we started At The Den to connect with leaders who inspire us and give them a space to share their stories, lessons, and hard-won wisdom on building stronger, happier, more resilient teams. Follow Pauline on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry/ Explore Polar Bear: www.meet-polar-bear.com All episodes: www.meet-polar-bear.com/podcast